Visitation Dreams: Rethinking Dream Language

Nyx & Winter from Chapter 4 The Bliss Chamber | Blind Love | © 2017 Lavavoth Stuart

Extraordinary Realms Unknown

It’s challenging to integrate traditional dream language into the concept of astral visitation. Most dream researchers discuss this type of alternate reality in terms of the unconscious or realities occurring within the dreamer’s mind (e.g., Bulkeley, 2019; Johnson, 1986). Theories abound regarding dreams and the unconscious (e.g., Bulkeley, 2019; Holecek, 2016; Johnson, 1986; Krippner, Bogzaran, & Carvalho, 2002). Thus, my quest is to rethink the transpersonal approach to dreaming so its language unmistakably includes new realities where “spiritual oneironauts” (i.e., us in spirit form; Holecek, 2016, p. 3) astrally engage with deceased loved ones, spirit guides, and other subtle beings.

Otherworldly “Dream” States

Johnson (1986) addressed the idea of the unconscious, which I intrinsically associate with otherworldly events. Clearly, not all unconscious material originates from paranormal phenomena, yet it’s important to begin restructuring the language so it can accommodate anecdotal spiritual visitations (i.e., spiritual or ethereal beings who interact with us when we are most receptive to their interference [1], whether through dreams, meditation, creative flow, etc.) as something more than simply “visitation dreams” (Krippner, Bogzaran, & Carvalho, 2002, p. 148).

I agree with Johnson that “dreams are mosaics composed of symbols that express movements, conflicts, interactions, and developments of the great energy systems within the unconscious” (p. 19). Yet labeling all nocturnal experiences as unconscious or dream material limits the vast mystery of consciousness itself. Neurological research into the dreaming mind remains only one avenue of exploration, albeit a valid and important one. Barušs and Mossbridge (2017), drawing on decades of research into telepathy, remote viewing, Ganzfeld experiments, and anomalous cognition, argue that:

the boundaries we normally draw between people’s individual conscious experiences are meant to be analogous to what we infer to be separate bodies in a physical reality. However, the boundary between individuals breaks down when we recognize that our primary, and indeed only, direct experience is mental” (pp. 50).

They further suggest that individual consciousness may remain connected to “other sources of information of which we are not necessarily conscious” (p. 50), challenging strictly materialist assumptions regarding the isolated nature of mind. Elsewhere, they note that “people who manifest musical and artistic ability seem to perform better as receivers in Ganzfeld telepathy tasks than nonselected participants [emphasis added]” (p. 49), suggesting a possible relationship between creativity, altered states, and anomalous forms of perception.

Rather than dismissing these experiences outright as fantasy, hallucination, or unconscious symbolic projection, such research opens the possibility that consciousness may operate relationally and extend beyond the limits of the individual self. At this point, where the mind actually wanders during altered or dream states remains unknown. We can speculate, theorize, neurologically measure, and document these experiences, yet consciousness itself continues to exceed the boundaries of what science can fully explain.

In Search of New Language

In truth, on most nights I only “dream,” often partaking in what Bulkeley (2019) identifies as “imaginative play in sleep” (p. 2), or what Johnson (1986) refers to as “dream reality” (p. 19), resolving internal conflicts, confronting demons, or processing material from my waking life.

But during those beautifully rare and transformative moments when Hans pulls my ethereal body elsewhere, offering guidance, companionship, love, imparting information, and a poetic bliss that transcends ordinary dream experience, these encounters within what I describe as the astral plane cannot simply be reduced to imaginative play in sleep or dream reality. They possess an emotional intensity, coherence, and sense of external presence fundamentally different from ordinary dreams. The universe is vastly numinous and, I would argue, profoundly spiritual.

Anchoring such experiences to practical language remains difficult. Yet part of my goal is to help rethink the terminology surrounding visitation dreams and other anomalous dream experiences within the evolving landscape of dream and consciousness research.

Note

[1] Hans uses this word to refer to his involvement in my life.

References

Barušs, I., & Mossbridge, J. (2017). Transcendent mind: Rethinking the science of consciousness. American Psychological Association.

Bulkeley, K. (2019). Dreaming is imaginative play in sleep: A theory of the function of dreams. Dreaming, Vol 29(1) (p. 1 -21).

Holecek, A. (2016). Dream yoga: Illuminating your life through lucid dreaming and the Tibetan yogas of sleep. Boulder, CO: Sounds True.

Johnson, R.A. (1986). Inner work: Using dreams & active imagination for personal growth. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Krippner, S., Bogzaran, F., & Carvalho, A. P. (2002). Extraordinary dreams and how to work with them. Albany: SUNY Press.